2016 Philippine Senate election

Philippine senatorial elections are done via the plurality-at-large voting system: the entire country is one at-large "district", where a voter can vote up to twelve people (one vote per candidate), with the twelve candidates with the highest number of votes deemed elected. Senators who are currently serving their second consecutive term are term limited, although they may run again in 2019. Only half of the seats are up in every senatorial election. The winning senators replaced the batch elected in 2010, and joined the batch elected in 2013 in the 17th Congress.

Each party has a slate of as many candidates as it desires, although parties don't usually exceed a 12-person ticket. A party may also choose to invite "guest candidates" to complete its slate. The party may even include, with the candidates' consent, independent candidates and candidates from other parties as the party's guest candidates. A coalition of different parties may also be formed.

In general elections where senators and presidents are elected at the same time, the presidential candidates often have their own slates of senatorial candidates. This means voters have more choices unlike in midterm elections, when there are usually only two major contending political forces.

Winning candidates are proclaimed by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) sitting as the National Board of Canvassers. Candidates are proclaimed senators-elect if the thirteenth-place candidate no longer has a mathematical chance of surpassing the twelfth-place candidate. Post-proclamation disputes are handled by the Senate Electoral Tribunal, a body composed of six senators and three justices from the Supreme Court.

A coalition led by the Liberal Party (LP) of Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas, the successor of the administration-backed Team PNoy coalition In 2013, and the primary opposition United Nationalist Alliance of Vice President Jejomar Binay, put up senatorial slates. Aside from these coalitions, candidates running for president also put up their own opposition slates. Some candidates are included in more than one coalitions.

In March 2015, Walden Bello resigned his position in Congress and from the Akbayan party, which is allied with President Benigno Aquino III, due to conflicts with Aquino that surrounded the Disbursement Acceleration Program and the Mamasapano incident.[12] As a result of the Mamasapano clash, Getulio Napeñas was relieved from his position and later retired.[13]

On May 20, 2015, the Office of the Ombudsman dismissed the complaint filed by former Iloilo provincial administrator Manuel Mejorada against Senator Franklin Drilon, DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson, DOT Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr., and other officials involved in the construction of the Iloilo Convention Center.[14] On August 7, 2015, Senator Gringo Honasan, former CIBAC congressman and now TESDA chair Joel Villanueva, and seven other former and incumbent lawmakers were charged before the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the pork barrel scam.[15]

In August 2015, Leila de Lima assisted Isaias Samson, an expelled minister of Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), in filing a case against the sect. Members protested at the DOJ office the next day while others occupied EDSA in Mandaluyong a few days later to urge de Lima to resign, and give focus to the Mamasapano clash where two members of the INC were killed.[16] On September 15, 2015, Francis Pangilinan announced his resignation from the cabinet of President Benigno Aquino III.[17] On September 29, 2015, Francis Tolentino spoke in Cavite for his intention to run for the Senate under Aquino's Liberal Party. However, controversy surrounding a lewd performance in a political rally in Santa Cruz, Laguna forced him to resign from the party.[18]

Grace Poe and Francis Escudero revealed that eight candidates were named on the initial list of their senatorial slate.[19] On September 30, 2015, Poe endorsed Bayan Muna representative Neri Colmenares.[20] On October 12, 2015, the Liberal Party announced its complete senatorial line-up in Quezon City under the Koalisyon ng Daang Matuwid.[21] The United Nationalist Alliance completed their slate on October 21, 2015.[22] Panfilo Lacson accused Poe of favoring actor Edu Manzano over himself on October 27, 2015 when it was reported that Manzano was joining the Senate slate of Poe.[23] On October 29, 2015, Poe and Escudero announced in an event held in Club Filipino, San Juan, the complete senatorial slate for the Partido Galing at Puso coalition.[24]

In an event commemorating Typhoon Haiyan in Tacloban on November 7, 2015, Martin Romualdez, the nephew of Imelda Marcos, declared his support for Jejomar Binay.[25] On November 14, 2015, in an interview by ABS-CBN News Channel, Karen Davila asked Alma Moreno with questions regarding the Reproductive Health Law. The interview went viral when Moreno was unable to answer coherently.[26] In November 2015, Princess Jacel Kiram and Malaysian politician Nurul Izzah Anwar posted a photo demanding Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to free opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim which was received negatively in that country, prompting Nurul Izzah to apologize. [27] On November 17, 2015, in a vote of 5–4, the Senate Electoral Tribunal denied the petition filed by aspiring 2016 presidential candidate Rizalito David for the disqualification of Grace Poe as a senator.[28]

On December 14, 2015, the court rejected Jovito Palparan's bid to be released on bail despite his plea that he is running for Senate.[29] On January 26, 2016, the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee concluded its hearings on the corruption allegations against Vice President and UNA presidential candidate Jejomar Binay.[30]

Campaigning for the Senate elections began on February 9, 2016. The United Nationalist Alliance's campaign started with a proclamation rally held in Mandaluyong on that same day.[31] The 10-person senatorial line-up of Miriam Defensor Santiago's campaign were unveiled during a campaign event at the Ynares Sports Arena on February 14, 2016.[32] On February 15, 2016, PDP–Laban, the party of Rodrigo Duterte announced that it would not have a senatorial slate so that the party can concentrate on promoting the candidate.[33]

On February 15, 2016, UNA senatorial candidate Manny Pacquiao, in a video statement posted by TV5 for its Bilang Pilipino coverage, made a comment on the issue of same-sex marriage. He described people in these marriages as "mas masahol pa sa hayop" (English Translation: behaving worse than animals.)[34] Pacquiao later apologized and stated that as a Born Again Christian, he is against same-sex marriage, based on Biblical teachings but he did not condemn gay people.[35] Nike ended their longtime partnership with Pacquiao stating that his comments against gay people were abhorrent.[36] Bello filed a petition that may disqualify Pacquiao for violating election rules regarding publicity.[37] [38] Based on the commission's rules, Pacquiao's wife, Jinkee Pacquiao, may substitute.[39]

On February 22, 2016, Richard J. Gordon filed a petition to the Supreme Court to reverse a decision by the Comelec from refraining to print receipts from the voting machines.[40] Greco Belgica followed suit.[41]

A total of 50 candidates were included in the initial list of candidates to be included in the ballot.[42]

Opinion polling, locally known as surveys in the Philippines, is conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS), Pulse Asia and other pollsters.

The frontrunner is in bold. Those which are within the margin of error are in italics.

The Commission on Elections, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers, convened for the first time on May 11, receiving the first batch of certificates of canvass, totaling 40, from various cities and diplomatic outposts.[43] The camp of Francis Tolentino, the 13th-placed candidate, citing the alteration by Smartmatic to the script at the commission's "Transparency server", objected to the impending proclamation of the winning senators by securing a restraining order at the Supreme Court, but failed.[44] On May 31, the SC has dismissed Tolentino's petition for being "moot and academic".[45]

The commission proclaimed the 12 winning candidates on May 19[46] The senators elect include 3 senators-elect who were reelected, 4 returning senators from previous Congresses, and 5 neophytes. Seven candidates from Koalisyon ng Daang Matuwid won, four from Partido Galing at Puso, and one from the United Nationalist Alliance.

The three senators who successfully defended their seats were Franklin Drilon, Ralph Recto and Tito Sotto.

There were four senators who returned to the Senate. These were Dick Gordon, Panfilo Lacson, Francis Pangilinan, and Migz Zubiri.

Five senators entered the chamber for the first time. These were Leila de Lima, Win Gatchalian, Risa Hontiveros, Manny Pacquiao and Joel Villanueva. De Lima won her first election; this was the first election of Villanueva with his name on the ballot instead of his party (him being a nominee of the Citizens' Battle Against Corruption in party-list elections); this was the first senatorial election for both Gatchalian and Pacquiao; and this was the third attempt of Hontiveros.

Incumbents Serge Osmeña and TG Guingona did not successfully defend their seats.

Composition of the Senate before and after the election:

Key:

• ‡ Seats up
• + Gained by a party from another party
• √ Held by the incumbent
• * Held by the same party with a new senator

Notes:

• Alan Peter Cayetano, Bongbong Marcos and Antonio Trillanes, who all ran for the vice presidency as independents, are shown as members of the Nacionalista Party both before and after the election.
• Manny Pacquiao ran under the United Nationalist Alliance during the election, but switched to PDP–Laban before the 17th Congress convened. He is shown here as a member of the PDP–Laban in the results tables, except for the "Per candidate" table, and on the "Per party" table's "Wins" column, where he is shown as an UNA member. In all other tables, including the "Per party" table's "Start" column, he is a PDP–Laban member.

Per party

Manny Pacquiao won the election as a candidate of United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), but later joined the PDP–Laban before the start of the 17th Congress. Pacquiao is treated as an UNA candidate in this table, except in the "After" column" where he is included in PDP–Laban's totals.

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats
					Up	Before	Won	After	+/−
	Liberal Party	100,512,795	31.28	+19.94	3	4	5	6	+2
	Nationalist People's Coalition	32,154,139	10.01	−0.15	1	2	2	3	+1
	United Nationalist Alliance	24,660,722	7.68	−19.29	1	3	1	2	−1
	Akbayan	15,915,213	4.95	+1.26	0	0	1	1	New
	Lakas–CMD	13,056,845	4.06	New	2	2	0	0	−2
	Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino	11,932,700	3.71	New	1	2	0	1	−1
	Aksyon Demokratiko	8,433,168	2.62	New	0	0	0	0	0
	Makabayan	6,484,985	2.02	+0.58	0	0	0	0	0
	Nacionalista Party	2,775,191	0.86	−14.44	2	5	0	3	−2
	Partido ng Manggagawa at Magsasaka	2,470,660	0.77	+0.16	0	0	0	0	0
	Kilusang Bagong Lipunan	1,971,327	0.61	New	0	0	0	0	0
	Independent	100,939,528	31.42	+8.16	1	3	3	5	+2
	Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino				0	1	0	1	0
	PDP–Laban				0	1	0	2	+1
	People's Reform Party				1	1	0	0	−1
Total		321,307,273	100.00	–	12	24	12	24	0
Total votes		44,979,151	–
Registered voters/turnout		55,739,911	80.69

Vote share Liberal   31.30% NPC   10.07% UNA   7.64% Akbayan   4.97% Independent   31.36% Others   14.66%

Senate seats Liberal   41.67% NPC   16.67% UNA   8.33% Akbayan   8.33% Independent   12.50% Others   0.00%

On July 25, the day of convening of the 17th Congress, Tito Sotto and Juan Miguel Zubiri nominated Koko Pimentel for the Senate presidency, while Francis Escudero and Antonio Trillanes nominated Ralph Recto. Pimentel won by a vote of 20-3 with the backing of the largest party in the chamber, the Liberal Party, which included Recto as part of the tradition of opposing candidates voting for one other. Alan Peter Cayetano, who has expressed interest in leading the Senate, was absent during the session.[49] Recto automatically became the Minority Leader after losing to Pimentel. Franklin Drilon was elected Senate President pro tempore while Sotto was elected Majority Leader.[50]